Business as usual for KTM it seems like with another year of a lighter, sleeker, faster, stronger 350 XC-F. Claiming a loss of 7 lbs. from last season the bike feels more like a 250F then the full blown open class machine that it is. The ergos are uniquely KTM feeling wide-open and tall, which for me is perfect and comfy. The bike itself feels planted and fast… like a corvette that looks like it’s going 90mph while it’s parked. With stock gearing it easily hit 90 mph and was still pulling. While ripping around a sand track you could pretty much leave it in 3rd and rail the entire thing with some added clutch work. The bike seemed to stall pretty easily, which can be helped by just turning the idle up. It would lug along in low gear still creating enough power to keep you race ready as soon as you had an opening. The new airbox cover took a minute to figure out being pretty much the same thing but backwards… They made it really hard to get off to ensure no trail side plastic pick ups, to the point that I was afraid I was breaking it. The new air filter design is easier to mount with a snap instead of the pull over cage. Long term testing will see where these new updates are going. I feel like I could trust the new battery even more then before. You really have no choice being that it has no kick starter, or even the ability to add one without getting a new bottom end. Definitely an interesting comparison – KTM goes kick-starter-less while most other manufacturers won’t touch an “E-Button”… Just as a gut thing, I have to have a kick starter while pre-running Baja or marking course. I just can’t stand the thought of being stuck out there some where because my battery died. So I’d go “W” or two-stroke on any KTM. As purely a race bike however, I feel like it would start just as fast if not faster then if I kicked it.
The suspension is still on the stiff end but with some adjusting I think it’ll handle much better for off-road then the new “airfork” revolution. Personally if I don’t crash and it doesn’t hurt the suspension gets my thumbs up. While it did knife a bit in the sand it was also super deep, wet sand. The rear felt good all the way through the stroke and the pair never sent me nose down into anything. For the open desert this would be the machine for me! Light enough to flick through the tough, technical sections while fast enough to stay out front across the valleys. In the much tighter, wooded terrain I could definitely feel the bikes overall size. While it was easy to muscle around being so light I was definitely more at home in the fast stuff on it.